MMF Season 2 Preview, Wax Nostalgic over last season

Wax Nostalgic on the First Season of Meet My Folks while awaiting Season 2.

How can you top a show that featured flirtatious offspring on trampolines and in hot-tubs, nervous houseguests forced to change car tires and snatch food off the parents' plates, one-on-one "dates" (which really lasted only 30 minutes) that consisted of eating warm sushi or going skateboarding, and wildly different parents wielding a polygraph machine? Meet My Folks (along with Dog Eat Dog) was a surprise summer hit for NBC, with all 7 episodes scoring high in the ratings despite a nearly incomprehensible airing schedule. Is it Fridays at 8pm, no Mondays at 10pm, no Wednesday at 4 in the afternoon? Fortunately the tv gods at NBC have smiled upon the show and coming this December it will have a regular gig at 10 pm Eastern / 9pm Central, following Fear Factor and Third Watch.

The second season has already started filming and is scheduled to start airing this December hopefully through March. The producers promise that there will be some surprises both for the participants and the audience, and that knowing that there will be a polygraph can sometimes be more entertaining than being surprised by one. Ha ha, lie detector hilarity, how are you going to try to deny the videotape in which your former college roommate revealed that you pee on people when you're drunk? I doubt the parents will forget to ask about that when you're hooked up to the lie detector. However, with the assistance of able counsel and knowledge aforethought, expect to see someone try an "Oliver North" move and claim, "I can't recall" in response to a damning question. Maybe we'll see how the very sedate polygraph operator (whose only reaction last season was an occasional raised eyebrow) reacts to a non-responsive answer from a contestant. Those eyebrows speak volumes, especially when watching parents select a date for their daughter, with their choices being a young man with over thirty "partners" or a young man who strips for a living and hits up old ladies for money.

As a brief recap of the parents we met last season, Dad Blankenship tested the guys with football drills, prison guard Dad Atnip took the guys fishing, Repo-Dad Reeves had the guys heaving hay bales and riding mechanical bulls, and Major Payne Dad Alexander used his drill sergeant skills on the guys. The lucky Figgs have a son, so they just giggled at the prospect of their son being the center of attention of so many women all weekend while Dad Figg didn't mind have a bevy of beauties in his abode. In a bold move, the DeCastros tested the guys' parenting materials by ditching their two toddlers with the guys at 5 in the morning. The Carlsons took the parenting test one step farther and more intrusive by shipping the guys off to a fertility clinic for a semen analysis. Oh those wacky Carlsons, shipping off the last season's hottest prospect, handsome, charming and polite mortgage broker Giancarlo Maniaci in the first round after finding out that, unlike his allegedly sexacoholic competitor, Giancarlo did not prefer blondes.

Just like with all good reality tv shows, expect the unexpected and rely on the reactions of unsuspecting participants to keep us glued to our seats. The first three episodes will be a three-part story arch featuring eight young woman vying for one young man with his parents making the decisions. Ok, either the producers are renting a house for this group (maybe the Bachelor's pad is available) or the parents are Mormons who send the rest of their kids to spend the weekend with relatives, as normal folk don't have room for EIGHT extra people in their house. It seems that the overwhelming popularity of the Figgs episode last season (three girls and a lucky son) has inspired even more catty women sniping and pulling hair while trying not to get caught by Mom while flirting with Dad. Look for new grand prizes, some upgrades from the traditional "trip to Hawaii" from last season, with a rumored two week trip to Europe for the winner of the first three episode story arc. Oh, to be young and single and looking for love on a tv show with your parents? NOT! Join in by watching the fun every Monday starting in December? Definitely!

A little update . . . we're not sure when the season will start for this show now as it hasn't been put on the schedule yet. It was originally slate to air on Mondays starting in December, but it hasn't got a scheduled air date on it's official NBC website yet. Hey, NBC, let us know . . . I've got to get my vcr warmed up to keep all the people straight.

That really was a good idea for them to keep it going over a few weeks. People are more likely to stick with the show that way. If the episodes are not connected in some way, then people can take it or leave it with each episode. I never really watched an entire MMF, but now that LG made it sound so interesting, I think I will look more closely.